I read this about EV, and it kind of goes along with other articles I’ve read debating the reality of its cleanliness and benefits to Mother Earth and what people have been discussing here. ———————————- All energy is a trade off of something. Interesting that while we aren’t buying oil from Russia, we haven’t stopped buying nickel for batteries. Nothing in government is that uncomplicated. Batteries, they do not make electricity – they store electricity produced elsewhere, primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas-powered plants, or diesel-fueled generators. So, to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid. Also, since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. is from coal-fired plants, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered, do you see?" Einstein's formula, E=MC2, tells us it takes the same amount of energy to move a five-thousand-pound gasoline-driven automobile a mile as it does an electric one. The only question again is what produces the power? To reiterate, it does not come from the battery; the battery is only the storage device, like a gas tank in a car. There are two orders of batteries, rechargeable, and single-use. The most common single-use batteries are A, AA, AAA, C, D. 9V, and lantern types. Those dry-cell species use zinc, manganese, lithium, silver oxide, or zinc and carbon to store electricity chemically. Please note they all contain toxic, heavy metals. Rechargeable batteries only differ in their internal materials, usually lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium. The United States uses three billion of these two battery types a year, and most are not recycled; they end up in landfills. California is the only state which requires all batteries be recycled. If you throw your small, used batteries in the trash, here is what happens to them. All batteries are self-discharging. That means even when not in use, they leak tiny amounts of energy. You have likely ruined a flashlight or two from an old, ruptured battery. When a battery runs down and can no longer power a toy or light, you think of it as dead; well, it is not. It continues to leak small amounts of electricity. As the chemicals inside it run out, pressure builds inside the battery's metal casing, and eventually, it cracks. The metals left inside then ooze out. The ooze in your ruined flashlight is toxic, and so is the ooze that will inevitably leak from every battery in a landfill. All batteries eventually rupture; it just takes rechargeable batteries longer to end up in the landfill. In addition to dry cell batteries, there are also wet cell ones used in automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. The good thing about those is, ninety percent of them are recycled. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to recycle single-use ones properly. But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and also windmills and solar panels. These three technologies share what we call environmentally destructive production costs. A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, about the size of a travel trunk. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells. It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth's crust for just - one - battery." Sixty-eight percent of the world's cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?" I'd like to leave you with these thoughts. California is building the largest battery in the world near San Francisco, and they intend to power it from solar panels and windmills. They claim this is the ultimate in being 'green,' but it is not. This construction project is creating an environmental disaster. Let me tell you why. The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicon dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled. Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades. There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions. "Going Green" may sound like the Utopian ideal but when you look at the hidden and embedded costs realistically with an open mind, you can see that Going Green is more destructive to the Earth's environment than meets the eye.

Does she have a good air purifier in her room?

What about the minerals that need to be mined to make the batteries? And the fuel needed to fund the mining? Aren’t most of these battery components found in the grounds of Afghanistan and China and the like? So we’d all be back to foreign dependence. And how much does that mining destroy our earth? Especially if the countries doing the mining are big into coal power. Is it really better? or is it a better sound bite and a way for new companies to make money? I don’t know. But sometimes you do need to follow the money. And I hate the idea of relying on other countries to supply our energy needs. This article talks about the rare earth minerals needed for ev. What happens if everything goes electric and the ‘rare’ minerals become outrageously expensive or hard to procure? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/forget-lithium-its-rare-earth-minerals-that-are-in-short-supply-for-evs/ I just think a lot of this push for all-electric is very shortsighted. It’s usually good to keep things more varied.

Well, you can always say to her friend- ‘I’m SO glad you came! We never get to see Grandma unless a friend of hers comes. She’s always so busy. And it’s been ages since the little ones have gotten to see her!’ And stuff like that.

I may shop around more for the next dress alteration. She charged $80. 😬. Excellent reviews and the dress itself was only $7, but I was thinking $50 or under before I went in. But as I said, I have zero experience. Thanks.

Just curious what is a common cost range to have a prom dress fit/altered. We usually don’t get our clothes fitted, so I had no idea of what was reasonable or not. This particular dress (bought at a thrift shop) was fine in length, but needed to be pulled a little tighter in the chest area, the straps were lifted a tad higher, and cups put in. No beads, sequins, or lace involved. Thanks all!

My mom and dad wanted to go to the doctors for a cure. To feel better. Quickly and simply. It took a long time for them to realize it wouldn’t work like that. Remember, they revert back to childhood in many ways. And in childhood (simplistically, not serious childhood illnesses)you went to a doctor, got some medicine, and felt better. your dad wants to feel better. He wants it to be a simple and fast cure. at least from my own experience

I don’t know where you live. We are in Florida, and one of the very generous schools with a full ride + is UCF. And their Honors dorm (to which NMF get automatic acceptance) have full kitchens. They’re actually more like apartments. 4 bedrooms, living room, kitchen and 2-4 baths. Other schools have pretty good housing options as well. Suites and kitchens are pretty popular. Just something to consider.

The financial aid is huge!! For us, the psat was more important than the sat because my kids were chasing full rides. The only schools they are considering are ones with full NMF packages. Super bright kids, AP/IB types, and definitely don’t want to incur any debt. And the schools they will have the options of have great honors colleges, special treatment for NMF etc. some schools they would end up with pretty generous pocket money as well. There’s no way they will turn that down. Now we just hope that the same packages are offered next year. Each year, NM merit aid seems to decrease or disappear. 😞 If they had never planned to attend one of the nmf schools, then I wouldn’t see the value in prepping. But mine would have been starting at a CC without a full ride, so they were very motivated. We didn’t have endless college money; we had paid for a 2+2 prepaid plan for each of them. The scholarship is a blessing to us all. if you do prep for the psat, then have your student take the Nov/Dec SAT immediately afterwards. It’s the same prep, so they’ll be the most prepared. Mine did that- got 1590 and 1600, and now don’t have to bother with testing again. It’s nice to get it over with at one time.

Well, since it popped up again, I guess I’ll update. I bought the one bottle and that’s all. If it made a difference, it wasn’t enough to be noticeable. 🤷‍♀️ Always worth a shot. reminder- this is a zombie thread:)

True. I was just thinking that her friends liked gardening and flowers, so was trying to bring a garden inside if she was homebound.

I’m sorry. Is she homebound? Some lovely long lasting plants and flowers to surround her indoors might be nice.

I saw this article about long covid and antihistamines https://www.sciencealert.com/there-s-evidence-antihistamines-may-help-treat-long-covid-symptoms

But they were minor adverse effects like headaches. Not heart issues or tinnitus or clots. There’s a huge range of what can be called adverse effects, so I don’t think it takes away from more serious reporting

Is it a habit? Like relaxing on the couch and drinking wine? Or is it hard alcohol for a different purpose? If the former, I would buy non alcoholic versions and continue your routine. If the latter, maybe add more mixer and less alcohol each night?

Can you somehow ask his school to make him go to the bathroom in between classes? And have a spare pair of underpants in his pocket. This way he can check to see if he’s already gone, and throw those underpants away. Is there a more private bathroom that is easily accessible that he can keep a matching change of clothes in? This will help him at least feel in control of that, since he’s having trouble controlling his bowels. re glasses- mine loved getting glasses when he was 4. He had fun picking them out and thought he looked awesome. And he did 🙂

I wonder if they’ve separated out studies of vets that had covid, versus vets that had covid and then vaccines/boosters as well . Because the vax causes heart inflammation and other inflammation also. So is it due to the first case or the result of all of everything. I didn’t where they differentiated.

Did these get posted? It makes me wonder how many people could have been saved if the Vit D was really pushed early and consistently. I know I read about it over the past two years, so the knowledge was out there, but not proven. I heard it here and started supplementing very early on. But for many, by the time official and clinical studies come in, it’s often too late. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/02/05/new-research-suggests-importance-of-vitamin-d-in-protecting-against-severe-covid-19/amp/ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0263069

If you really don’t want to move, and the process and the new home would be more expensive, then what about a private school? Are there any of those around? And you could put the money into that and stay where you are. It’s only 4 years of high school, right? It could be cheaper in the long run.

But I thought the link said petechiea was not itchy, and her dad says his rash itches.

A couple things come to mind- if his mind is not right, have that documented asap and papers signed to that effect. Along with you as POA. tell him firmly she cannot stay in your home, but you can’t stop her from staying in a hotel. The lady friend can pick him up for get togethers; you need to know dates and times. This will certainly convey his condition to her. would FaceTime or zoom be a substitute?

I never heard of writing gloves, because yes, I’m cold inside my house. I’m going to look at getting a pair. And I’ll try the vest idea too. Does the compounding cream improve blood circulation then? Permanently or just temporarily? I’d love to find a long term way to improve circulation. I do need to get another night splint. That helped with my carpal tunnel. that mini hand warmer looks great! thanks all!

Not in this cold weather! But most days I do walk.

my fingers always get cold in the chilly weather, as did my mother's. and my kids are so toasty warm feeling. is it just old age or can I do something to improve the warmth in my hands (other than wearing gloves). It's become so natural that I think other people must be cold too until I touch their hands and they are so warm. I'm fortunate to live in Florida now so it's not usually an issue, but still... ideas?

I find the cold, rain, and clouds here in Florida this past week or more helping to make that blah, don’t want to do anything feeling. Maybe give yourself permission to relax/indulge for a bit, and not stress about it. The sun will be back by next week, and maybe that will help bump you out of it. A friend of mine with depressive episodes definitely struggles more in the winters.